The present invention relates to devices, assemblies and systems for affording panoramic forward, side, rear and underneath views for a wide range of transportation means including, private vehicles, full trailers, semi-trailers, buses, aircraft, ships and the like.
It is well known that blind spots hinder the safe manoeuvering of transportation means and are the cause of many accidents. Considerable inventive effort has been made over the years in developing devices, assemblies and systems particularly for private vehicles for overcoming blind spots. Typical examples include devices, assemblies and systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,444,538 to Crooks, 1,877,997 to Shapiro et la., 1,905,323 to Wallace, 1,986,033 to Trufant, 2,075,900 to Jackson and 2,257,510 to Mote for viewing the area immediately behind the vehicle and U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,918,802 to Fleischer, 4,172,638 to Freedman, 4,309,142 to Shumaker and 4,441,790 to Williams et al. for viewing the area immediately in front of a vehicle. However, none of the above have achieved commercial success for a number of reasons including that they are detract from the aesthetic appearance of the vehicle, are cumbersome to install, are relatively complicated to align and to maintain in alignment, etc.
Typical blind spots of small vehicles include the areas towards the front of a vehicle, for example, when exiting from a road or a driveway to join a stream of traffic and towards the rear of the vehicle, for example, when reversing into a parking space.
Typical blind spots of long vehicles, for example, trailers and buses, also include, in addition to the above-mentioned front and rear blind spots, blind spots along the side of the vehicle and right and left areas substantially perpendicular to the sides of the vehicle. The problem of blind spots of long vehicles is even more acute for articulated vehicles, for example, semi-trailers, articulated buses, trams, etc. where part of the vehicle can extend over a pavement during certain maneuvers, for example, when making sharp turns.
Blind spots of civilian and military aircraft include the underside of the aircraft because the pilot does not have a visible line of sight. The blind spots are particularly troublesome while taxiing along a runway and landing when the pilot has to estimate the height of the aircraft aircraft's instrumentation does not provide readings for such short heights.
Therefore, it would be highly advantageous to have devices, assemblies and systems for affording panoramic forward, side, rear and underneath views to operators of a wide range of transportation means including, private vehicles, full trailers, semi-trailers, busses, aircraft, ships and the like.